Knight in Shining Armor
by F6FHellcat
Summary: Not every member of the Alliance is a front line soldier, pilot, or diplomat. Some work behind the scenes as spies and special forces agents. Among their number is an agent
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: With few exceptions, all characters were created by George Lucas and several of the many authors of have expanded on the universe Lucas introduced us to in the movie Star Wars: A New Hope. I do not claim any rights to these characters, nor do I accept any payment for this story. This story is purely done for my enjoyment and for the enjoyment of those who read it.  
  
Feel free to use any new characters or ideas I introduce in this story. I do ask that you contact me so I can help you with details of these characters or ideas. However, you are not obligated to do so._

_Special Thanks: I'd like to thank George Lucas for creating the Star Wars universe and all the authors, artists, game programmers and all the other folks who have expanded on it and made it an enjoyable distraction from the events of the real world._

_Author's note: I originally posted this story on , which also saw the posting of my stories The Trial of Darth Vader, Secrets, and War, under the pen name of Boo. It had been my wish to continue posting my Star Wars fan fiction there, but with the apparent fall of the site, I've been forced to find new ways to get my fan fiction back up._

* * *

**Knight in Shining Armor **

**Chapter 1  
**  
"Jace, could you toss me the hydospanner?" Krysta Walka yelled from the maintenance hatch.  
  
Jace Douw grabbed the tool and tip toed over to where the mechanic's hand was groping about in the area she expected it to land. He then proceeded to drop the empty power pack from his blaster onto the deck plate. Kyrsta's hand grabbed the power pack and disappeared. A second later the it came flying out at Jace, causing him to laugh.  
  
"Very funny, nerf brain," Kyrsta scowled as her head popped out of the hatch.  
  
"I thought so," Jace smirked. "Anyway, you're always telling me what precision tools hydrospanners are. Doesn't strike me as something a person just tosses around."  
  
"Yeah, yeah. I know what I say. Don't try to use my own words against me. Got it?"  
  
Jace threw up his hands in self defense. "Yes ma'am. Just don't hit me."  
  
Krysta rolled her eyes as she returned to repairing the _Wind Star_'s hyperdrive. "You going to the cantina tonight Jace?"  
  
"Yeah, figured I would. Dash said he'd meet me there."  
  
"Rendar," Krysta snorted as she heaved herself out of the maintenance hatch. "He's gonna charge you an arm and a leg for the projectiles you know."  
  
"Would you rather I ask some Imp munitions officer for 'em?" Jace asked, raising an eyebrow. He knew Krysta was disdainful of Dash Rendar. But he also knew how she felt about the Empire. "Dash may charge an arm and a leg for his services, but he does come through. And it's better than being sent to Kessel."  
  
"Which will happen if they ever catch us with those TX-55s," Krysta said. "Windy, check the hyperdrive please?"  
  
"Not right now, sugar, I've got a headache," Windy responded.  
  
"Told you she was getting too feminine," Jace said, watching Krysta tremble in anger at being called sugar.  
  
"That will teach me to turn a freighter into a droid with the personality of your last girlfriend."  
  
"Yeah," Jace agreed, ignoring the part about Windy being like his last girlfriend. "Windy baby, be a sweetheart and run the diagnostics like Krysta asked for."  
  
"Anything for you Jace."  
  
Krysta glared at the ship's bulkhead for the way Windy had treated her. Fact was that Windy always treated her like that. It was almost as if the ship saw her as a rival for Jace's affections. She decided that's what really infuriated her about the ship. That and the fact that Jace was so often having to ask Windy to do something she herself had just asked for.  
  
"Any word from Mon Mothma or any other Alliance leader?" Jace asked, trying to break the menacing glare Krysta was using on the _Wind Star_.  
  
"No, not yet. Windy's promised to relay the message to me when it comes in though."  
  
"Something's up, let me tell you. I don't yet know what, but I know it's something."  
  
"Hyperdrive checks out," Windy finally said.  
  
"Thank you, Windy baby," Jace replied.  
  
"Took you long enough," Krysta grumbled.  
  
"Oh, I was done a minute after I began. It was what I watched on my telescopic visual sensors that kept me from answering."  
  
Right away both Jace and Krysta were suddenly all business as they hurried to the ship's lounge. The mere mention of something Windy found on her sensors was always enough to arouse their attention. But it was more than just wanting to see what the droid ship found interesting. It was a basic survival instinct.  
  
"Put it on the holo, Windy," Jace ordered as they entered the lounge. He knew as well as Krysta did that Windy always recorded anything of importance, even if one or both of them were there to observe what she recorded.  
  
The holo came to life with a display of the Tatooine system. It soon settled on the image of a Coreillian Corvette with the markings of a diplomatic ship from Alderaan. Jace noted the fact that the corvette was heading toward the planet.  
  
The peaceful image of the corvette was suddenly shattered by the arrival of a massive, wedge-shaped war ship. Almost immediately the little corvette began accelerating away from the Star Destroyer. The bigger ship's gunners opened fire on the smaller ship, which returned fire. Finally, the Star Destroyer over took the corvette, pulling it into docking position. After a few more minutes, escape pods began to be launched, only to be destroyed by the Star Destroyer's gunners. That is, all except one were destroyed. The image faded away as the holo shut down.  
  
"Whoever that was on the corvette must have been in a lot of trouble," Krysta said as the holo finished.  
  
"More than we may know right now. Notice the fact that the Imps made sure to destroy the escape pods?"  
  
"Yes. Why?"  
  
"The Imps are covering something up. They captured the ship, but they don't want anyone to know they did."  
  
"Yet they let one of the pods go."  
  
"No one onboard that pod. Probably a malfunction with it's launch system."  
  
"Head's up big boy," Windy said. "You too, Krysta. I just identified the corvette as the _Tantive IV_. She's a diplomatic ship out of Alderaan, and often works for the Alliance on top secret missions. My most recent records from Alliance High Command shows that a certain Alderaanian princess was using it as her personal diplomatic ship."  
  
"Princess Leia," Krysta said, suddenly worried.  
  
"The princess being captured could be a serious problem for the Alliance. Course, if word were to get out that she'd been captured, the uproar it would cause would be so massive hundreds of systems would flock to the banner of the Alliance. No wonder that Star Destroyer's captain doesn't want anyone to know what happened here today."  
  
"That is, of course, if she were still on board the ship," Krysta reminded him. " It could have dropped her off for some diplomatic assignment and then gone off to perform whatever mission it had to for the Alliance."  
  
"True, though I doubt the Star Destroyer's captain would have been so interested in hiding the fact that they'd captured the ship. Instead of destroying the escape pods, they'd have been more likely to send a contingent of stormtroopers down to capture the people aboard those pods. No, my guess is the princess was on _Tantive IV_. And they destroyed those escape pods to be certain word of what happened doesn't get out."  
  
"Well, you're the Alliance operative more so than I am."  
  
"Rogue operatives," Jace reminded her. "That's what we are."  
  
"How about this then, you're the Alliance's rogue field operative and I'm your tech support."  
  
Jace chuckled. "I'll give you that one."  
  
"Still, if the princess was on _Tantive IV_, that means she was probably on a mission for the Alliance. Maybe she put whatever her mission was in that one escape pod so as not to be caught with it."  
  
"Makes sense," Jace agreed, scratching his chin in thought. "Unfortunately, I can't afford to take the time to go and find out. I do have that meeting with Dash to make. Nor can the _Wind Star_ go there. The Imps see a freighter getting interested in what happened and they'll be all over use like a Jawa on a lost droid."  
  
"I'll be too busy with my latest design to go and check it out. Guess we'll never know. Unless we go out and check that escape pod tomorrow."  
  
"Jawas will probably have taken it," Jace told her. Seeing Krysta start to pout made him loose his resolve. "All right, we can check. But if it's not there, we forget about it."  
  
"Deal," Krysta said, smiling from ear to ear at her success.  
  
Jace then noticed the date on the holo. "Forget even going out there Krysta. This holo was recorded yesterday."  
  
"What?" Krysta asked. She looked at the holo's date. Indeed, it had been recorded the day before. Moving over to a nearby computer, Krysta checked out the diagnostic's on Windy. "Remember a few days ago when I said that velker attack on Bespin didn't harm us?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, I was wrong. Windy's got a clitch. Something I did while working on the hyperdrive caused her to view the holo and think she was seeing something actually happening."  
  
"Whatever it was, you can be sure that escape pod is gone by now."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"All right, see if you can fix the glitch. I've gotta go get ready to meet up with Dash. And that means getting credits."  
  
"Right."


	2. Chapter 3

**Knight in Shining Armor  
Chapter 3  
**  
"Sorry I can't be more fun to be around right now," Han apologized. "Just found out tonight that an old girlfriend died. In fact, when I saw you at the Kyrat tonight, I was trying to delay the inevitable."  
  
"That's ok, Han," Jace said, comforting him.  
  
"How'd you find out," Krysta asked.  
  
"Fett told me."  
  
Both Jace and Krysta stared at him, then at Chewbacca, in utter disbelief. Finally, Krysta found her voice. "Boba Fett told you he killed an old girlfriend of yours?"  
  
"Kid," Han began, "Boba Fett doesn't run around the galaxy bragging about the beings he's killed and those he's captured. With his reputation, doing that would only hurt him. Fett promised Bria that he'd find a way to tell her old man she was dead if she died. He told me. I know her old man so I'm telling him."  
  
"How'd she die?" Krysta asked, intrigued by what she was hearing.  
  
"From what Fett told me, the Imps killed her and her rebel team on Topwara."  
  
Jace's ears perked up upon hearing what Han had just said. "This wouldn't happen to be Bria Tharen by any chance?"  
  
"Yeah," Han replied, staring at him. "I take it you meet her."  
  
"She hired me to take her and a couple members of that Red Hand squadron of her's to Balmorra about three months before the Battle Of Nar Shaddaa. They then proceeded to stiff me on the bill, claiming the rebels had some big mission coming up."  
  
It was a lie, all of it. Except the part about him knowing her and taking her on a mission. In reality, it had been his mission. Bria and the other members of Red Hand squadron had accompanied him on his mission to Eriadu. Bria and Red Hand squadron had then provided him the diversion he needed to break into then Moff Tarkin's home and steal the location to a secret weapons development center. They had then traveled to the weapons center and destroyed it.  
  
"Yeah, I remember that time," Han said, buying the story. "You had me and Chewie watch Krysta for you. Sorry Bria stiffed you though. Would not have thought she'd be mean enough to do that to anyone. That is until she did it to me and Chewie."  
  
"Sorry about that Han. Anyway, how well did you know her?"  
  
"She was the first true love of my life. I even proposed to her. At least I proposed in my own, awkward way. I'd managed to rescue her from life as a mindless slave, but not from the emotional drug that turned her into one. It was that emotional drug that eventually tore her from me."  
  
"How did you rescue her?" Krysta asked.  
  
"I caused her to finally see how she was being treated. A Hutt clan had set up this spice processing plant on the planet Ylesia. They were using male t'landa Tils, the Hutts' nearest cousins, to enslave poor, unsuspecting beings who were emotionally unable to protect themselves.  
  
"The males of the t'landa Til race do this special deal to get mates. However, it can also work on those who are depressed. It's just like an emotional drug, making folks feel real good. The Ylesia Hutts set their t'landa Til males up as priests who are able to perform what they call the Exultation. Unfortunately, once a person gets a taste of the Exultation, their hooked. You've got to be strong when you first get a taste of the damn Exultation to resist it.  
  
"Which is why they give this taste to a mass crowd. So many in the crowd won't be that strong and they'll willing become pilgrims and travel to Ylesia. Course what they don't realize their really slaves and may never realize that. I managed to convince Bria to actually look into what the Exultation really was. But even knowing that, she had to go through withdrawal which nearly caused her to return to her life as a slave."  
  
"Tough break Han," Jace said. The story fascinated him more than it did Krysta since he had known Bria. She'd told him she had been a slave, but had never told him how or why she'd become one. Now he understood her problem better.  
  
"Yeah, well enough about me," Han said. "So kid, how ya doing."  
  
"I'm great Han," Krysta enthusiastically replied. "I'm now working as the chief mechanic on board the _Wind Star_. No longer a little girl. I'm a woman now."  
  
Indeed, she had changed quite a bit. When Han had last seen her, she'd been in her mid teens. But she had been awfully close to being a flat chested, pig-tailed preteen. Indeed she had worn pig-tails and had been short for her age. Her chest had just barely been able to cause her shirt to stick out. Now she stood maybe five four, with long flowing hair which she took to wearing in a long braid. And though she wasn't what some might call gorgeous, she still was capable of getting guys attention when she walked into a room.  
  
"Yeah, I'll say," Han agreed. "Let's see, you were, what, 16 when I last saw you?"  
  
"Actually, it was my fifteenth birthday when you last saw me," Krysta corrected.  
  
"That's right. You were fourteen during the battle of Nar Shaddaa. And as I recall, Jace didn't want you on the _Nova Flare_ during the battle. You two left Nar Shaddaa two weeks afterwards, after you got out of that bacta bath."  
  
"Yeah, talk about a great birthday present. Getting out of that awful stuff. At least I wasn't on the 'Take That' or any of the other freighters that got destroyed during the battle."  
  
"Yes, but our going up against the _Pride of the Senate_ wasn't such a good idea either," Jace pointed out.  
  
"But they looked like such a pleasant target," Krysta whined. "I mean they were moving so much slower than the rest of Greelanx's forces. I thought we could take them."  
  
"Krysta, they were retrieving the remaining TIEs," Jace said. "And I told you to stay away from the _Flare_'s controls while I was repairing the weapons systems. Kas, Stry, and I might have been able to pull off what you tried. Your just lucky _Pride of the Senate_ didn't puncture the bridge with that turbolaser shot. Being tossed around, breaking bones and having 'em tear through your flesh, is still preferable to being killed."  
  
"OK, ok, you don't have to remind me."  
  
"At any rate, we should get down to business," Han said as he got the sonic rifle out. "I want five thousand for this thing."  
  
"No way Han," Jace exclaimed. "One thousand."  
  
"Four."  
  
"Thousand and a half."  
  
"Three."  
  
"Two."  
  
"Two thousand nine hundred."  
  
"It ain't worth that much. Two thousand four hundred."  
  
"Two thousand eight hundred. Gimme something here or get nothing."  
  
"Highest I'm willing to go is two thousand six hundred fifty credits. Take it or leave it buddy."  
  
"Done," Han said, with a slight smile. "Now if I can just get another ten thousand I'll be able to pay Jabba what I owe him."  
  
"Well, best of luck Han," Jace said, taking the gun and handing it to Krysta. "See to it that this gets back to the ship Krysta. I've got something I need to do."  
  
"Going somewhere?" Han asked.  
  
"Yeah, I need to talk to Chalmun. Need to see if I can't rent one of his rooms for an important meeting I've got tomorrow."  
  
"Well, good luck."

* * *

* * *

Jace sat at the bar in the Mos Eisley Cantina. Chalmun had charged him an arm an a leg for the room he'd rented. But it had been worth it. He'd been able to bring in the equipment he'd need to capture Gallaex and Jalril. Once he planted the tracer on the man Gallaex sent, he'd then slip down to the rented room in the cantina's basement and prepare for the capture. Until then, he'd have to prepare for the arrivals of Jalril and Gallaex's man.  
  
"Excuse me," a voice beside him began, "but I do believe the whole point of drinking is to get one's drink into one's mouth instead of on their clothes."  
  
"Uh, yeah," Jace agreed not sure what to say. He looked beside him. A bearded, elderly man in a dark robe stood there, looking at him intently. He looked like some moisture farmer or something. "Can I help you."  
  
"Yes, I think you can. My young friend and I are looking for passage to the Alderaan system," the man told him. He spoke with such authority that Jace was shocked to realize this man might not be a local. "But that is not how you can help me."  
  
"OK, how can I help you then."  
  
"You are helping to return the light of freedom to our galaxy. But as you well know, the fire of rebellion that promises to return that light is now threatened. You have found a traitor, now you must bring him in. That is how you can help me."  
  
Before Jace could ask him how he knew who he was, or even how he knew why he was in the cantina, the man walked off and began talking to other starship captains. His thoughts were interrupted by Wuher's shouting.  
  
"Hey, we don't serve their kind here!"  
  
Jace turned to see a young man and two droids standing in the doorway. The young man had a confused, unsure look on his face. "What?"  
  
"Your droids. They'll have to wait outside. We don't want them here."  
  
The young man had his droids leave before making his way to the bar and asking Wuher for a drink. Jace was about to return to his own drink when he noticed a pair of drunken thugs moving towards the young man. Looking closer, he realized who it was.  
  
"Ponda Baba and Dr. Evazan," Jace muttered to himself. "What do those two monsters want with the kid there."  
  
"Negola dewaghi wooldugger?!?" Ponda Baba said to the young man, who tried to ignore him.  
  
"He doesn't like you," Dr. Evazan translated.  
  
"I'm sorry," the young man replied.  
  
"I don't like you either," Dr. Eazan continued, with a menacing glare. "You just watch yourself. We're wanted men. I have the death sentence on twelve systems."  
  
"I'll be careful."  
  
"You'll be dead!"  
  
Not wanting to see the young man killed, Jace reached for his blaster, ready to take out both Ponda Baba and Dr. Evazan. No one in the cantina would object if he killed them. But he grabbed the blaster and was just beginning to remove it, when he saw the old man he'd been talking to before intervene.  
  
"This little one's not worth the effort. Come, let me get you something."  
  
With a snarl of contempt, Dr. Evazan sent the young man crashing through some nearby tables. He and Ponda Baba then drew their blasters, aiming them at the old man. Even though the old man gave off a sense of peace and calm that kept Jace from drawing his own blaster, Wuher was a different story.  
  
"No blasters! No blasters!"  
  
It was a useless and needless waste of breath. The old man moved faster than anyone his age could possibly move, drawing and igniting his weapon. The blue blade deflected a blaster bolt into the cantina's ceiling. In the next instant Dr. Evazan found the blade slicing through his blaster, effectively taking him out of the fight. Ponda Baba shoved Dr. Evazan out of the way, but before he could do anymore the old man brought the lightsaber blade down and throw his arm. Both thugs, realizing they were no match for the old man, quickly ran out the door. The old man let them go, knowing there was no need for senseless murder. He shut off his lightsaber and helped the younger man to his feet.  
  
"A Jedi Knight," Jace whispered to himself. "No wonder he knew why I was here, probably read my mind. Kid must be with him. Maybe he's the Jedi's apprentice or something."  
  
Jace's thoughts of the Jedi and his companion were interrupted by the entrance of Jalril. Deciding that he at least smelled like someone who was so drunk that he was spilling more of his drink onto himself than actually drinking it, Jace ordered a lomin ale and moved closer to the door. Sitting there quietly, he sipped his drink while watching Jalril nervously watch the door.  
  
Finally, Jalril's escort arrived.. The man walked up to Jalril right away and explained who he was. Jace finished his ale and went into action. Acting like someone falling down drunk, he made his way to Jalril and his escort as they left the cantina.  
  
"She left me," Jace drunkenly said as he grabbed ahold of Jalril. "My wife left me cause she says I drink too much."  
  
Jalril pushed him away. "You reek of alcohol!"  
  
"No I don't. I never touch the stuff," Jace slurred as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture of some little known holo starlet who'd died years before he'd been born. He then wrapped an arm around the Imperial beside Jalril, showing him the woman's picture. "She's so beautiful. Now what am I gonna do without her?"  
  
"For starters, I would stop drinking," the Imperial said, throwing Jace into a nearby table.  
  
"But I only had a little," Jace said, knowing it was contradictory to what he'd already said. Yet he didn't try to get back on his feet and approach the two. He'd already planted the tracer, and that was the important thing.  
  
"You bantha herding drunk, I should have you arrested for even touching me," Jalril snarled, "much less lying about not drinking in the first place."  
  
Jace watched as the two left the cantina. He then hurried down to the room he rented and put on the suit of armor he had placed there the night before. Exiting the Mos Eisley Cantina through the rear entrance, he activated his armor's tracking unit.  
  
"That's it, lead me to where Gallaex is staying. Come tonight he'll wish he never agreed to meet with a traitor like you, Jalril."


	3. Chapter 2

**Knight in Shining Armor  
Chapter 2  
**  
Jace walked into the Krayt Dragon Lounge and looked around. He knew it was the cleanest and most reputable cantina in Mos Eisley, but that wasn't saying much. Fact was that he felt safer doing business in one of the less reputable establishments than he did here. At least there one knew what they could expect. Plus everyone was usually trying to keep out of each other's shady business deals. A cantina like the Krayt Dragon Lounge always presented the problem of Imperial undercover agents monitoring you, not to mention information dealers.  
  
Spotting a sabacc game in the corner, Jace walked over, figuring he'd find Dash there. He wasn't disappointed to see the Corellian sitting at the table, a fairly decent pile of credits in front of him. Jace pulled out a seat and sat down, tossing a few credits into the pot.  
  
"Deal me in," Jace told the dealer. The Sullustan across from him looked like he was about to object. Jace simply gave him a menacing look, silencing the him.  
  
"Was wondering if you were ever gonna show up," Dash said as he looked at his card chips.  
  
"Would have been here sooner but something came up and Krysta needed my help with it."  
  
"How is Krysta anyway?" Dash asked as he threw in a couple more credits.  
  
"Sorry boys, but I'm afraid this hand is mine," the Sullustan declared as his turn to speak came up.  
  
"She's fine." Jace casually threw in his card chips, ignoring the Sullustan's comments. "Course she'd probably rather see you dead than have me talk to you. Might have been why she needed my help."  
  
"She just doesn't know me that well. If she did she'd want to see me disintegrated," Dash joked.  
  
"And she doesn't want to know you either," Jace replied. "Anywhere we could get a little privacy?"  
  
Dash pointed to a nearby booth with a droid in it. "Leebo's holding the table for us."  
  
Jace got up and walked over to the table, closely followed by Dash. Both men sat down opposite from each other. One of the cantina's waiters came over and handed Dash his drink. He then took away the glass of water in front of Leebo, promising to bring back another, before asking Jace what he wanted. Jace placed his order and then dug out the pouch of credits he'd brought for the purchase.  
  
"I believe this is the amount we agreed upon," he said as he tossed the pouch into the middle of the table.  
  
"You didn't use any for your bet did you?" Dash demanded as he handed Leebo the pouch.  
  
"Their all there. I never touch credits I've put in a pouch like that once their in there. Got others for that."  
  
"Which you may need if all my credits aren't in that pouch. Leebo?"  
  
"All the credits are here sir. Including an extra five hundred you did not request."  
  
"For keeping you waiting past the time of our meeting," Jace told him, leaning back against the cushions on his side of the booth.  
  
"I like your thinking," Dash said. "Keep a person waiting so you pay them extra. I like it."  
  
The waiter came back and gave Jace his drink. As soon as he was gone, Dash reached into a pocket inside his vest and pulled out a small box, tossing it to Jace. He opened it and looked in. "These aren't the TX-55s I ordered."  
  
"Factory fresh. I got lucky with that. My contact was able to smuggle them out of the factory under the nose of some stormtroopers. More importantly, he was able to get me the new TX-56s instead of the 55s. Not what you ordered, so I wont charge you for the mix up."  
  
"TX-56s. Same basic design as the 55s, but faster and with a greater punch. Also more angular, making them slice through the air easier. I'm impressed."  
  
"The rest of your order is on the _Outrider_. Either you come over to Docking Bay Fifty-six and pick it up or else I bring it to the _Wind Star_. Your choice."  
  
Jace was about to respond when a Quarren he knew caught his eye. "Polto Jalril."  
  
"What?" Dash asked, confused.  
  
"Nothing," Jace responded, realizing he'd just spoken out loud. "Guess you'll have to bring the order over to Docking Bay Forty. I've got some more business to take care of."  
  
"And what would that be," another voice said, coming up to the table.  
  
"Glad to see you could make it back, Solo," Dash said as he looked up.  
  
"Long time no see, Han," Jace said, making room for the other man. He took note of the fact that Jalril was sitting by himself, apparently waiting for someone.  
  
"Last time was just before the Battle of Nar Shaddaa," Han reminded him.  
  
"Yeah, I remember that day. Krysta still has nightmares about it."  
  
"Hey, the kid spent so much time in a bacta tank after the battle that I'm not surprised," Han said. "And as I recall, you had to junk that YT-1200 knock-off of yours afterwards."  
  
"Krysta hated to see the _Nova Flare_ go. Spent so much of her life in it."  
  
"So what are you flying now?"  
  
"He's got a CEC HT-2200 now, Solo," Dash answered for him.  
  
"Finally getting a real design, huh."  
  
"Krysta's idea. I bought it then she modified it far beyond factory specs."  
  
"So she's not pirate bait?" Han asked.  
  
"The _Wind Star_ couldn't match the _Outrider_ for speed, but she'll keep up with your _Bria_. In fact I think she'd probably out run the _Bria_ in a race."  
  
"Sure she would," Han agreed. "Course anything could out run the _Bria_ now. The Imps blew her away not too long after the battle."  
  
"Sorry to hear that," Jace said. Then he noticed Dash's bemused look. "OK, what am I missing here?"  
  
"Oh, nothing," Dash told him, "except Solo's new ship."  
  
"OK Han, I'll bite. What are you flying now?"  
  
"The _Falcon_," Han replied with a grin.  
  
Jace nearly choked on the swig of ale he'd just taken. "The _Millennium Falcon_? Lando's pride and joy?"  
  
"My pride and joy now," Han corrected.  
  
"How'd you manage that one?"  
  
"Won her in that big sabaac game on Bespin."  
  
"Talk about luck Han."  
  
"Yeah, well I could use some of that luck now."  
  
"Oh yeah," Dash interrupted. "That deal with Jabba."  
  
"What deal with Jabba?" Jace gave Han a questioning look.  
  
"Last Kessel Run the Imps boarded me. Forced me to dump the spice I was hauling so they wouldn't catch me with it. Cost Jabba twelve thousand four hundred credits. He wants me to pay for it."  
  
"Stang, that's rotten luck," Dash exclaimed, not having heard the full story about Han's trouble's with Jabba.  
  
"Still, I got something out of that Run. Either of you boys ready to try and make it in under twelve parsecs. That's the new record and it's all mine."  
  
"I'm not even gonna attempt it with the _Wind Star_ Han. But I am gonna try and help you out with your problem with Jabba. Still got that sonic rifle?"  
  
"Let me guess, you plan on buying it off me."  
  
"You got it."  
  
"Come by the _Falcon_ later, once your other business is done. Bring Krysta if ya can. Would love to see her again after all these years. Docking Bay Ninety-four."  
  
"Deal," Jace said. But his eyes were fixed on Jalril and the man who was taking a seat across from him. "Guys, would love to sit here and talk about the good old days and what we're doing now, but I've got that other business to see to."

Taking his drink, Jace began walking over to the bar. As he passed Jalril's table he pretend to trip, spilling his drink all over Jalril. Both Jalril and has companion jumped up and yelled at him for being a drunken oaf. Jace began apologizing profusely, trying to dry Jalril off in the process.  
  
But it was all a cover. Jace knew Polto Jalril was a high ranking member of the Alliance who was suppose to be on a mission to Bespin in an attempt to get Tibanna Gas for the Rebellion. The fact that he was here on Tatooine meant that he was up to something. The Alliance had suspected they might have a traitor for some time. Jalril's companion told Jace who the traitor was. After all, it wasn't everyday Imperial Admiral Sol Gallaex met with an alien.  
  
Knowing Jalril would never recognize him out of his armor had made it easy for Jace to get near him. Spilling his drink and then making like he was drunkenly trying to dry the Quarren off gave him his chance to discreetly plant a listening device on him. Once it was planted, Jace walked over to the bar and ordered an ale to go. He then left the Kyrat Dragon Lounge.  
  
"Windy, this is Jace, come in," Jace whispered into his comm link once outside.  
  
"What can I do for you, big boy?"  
  
"I spilled my ale and need you to clean up after me." The code had been devised between Jace and the droid ship before he left for the cantina. It told Windy that for some reason Jace had planted the listening device he'd brought and needed her to record what it picked up.  
  
"I can't clean up there, but am clean here," Windy responded, using the affirmative code.  
  
"Glad to know. Jace out."

* * *

Jace had taken his time getting back to the _Wind Star_ so as not to look suspicious. Once back, he told Krysta that Dash would be stopping by with the rest of their purchase and that she'd have to be the one to see him when he arrived. She started to give that pout she always used to get her way, but he turned his back on her and went to his quarters. Frustrated with the fact that he'd ignored her pout, Krysta sighed, knowing full well she'd have to see Dash.  
  
"Windy, give me a play back on that recording I had you make," Jace said once the door to his quarters was sealed.  
  
"As ordered, boss," Windy replied, becoming all business and not trying to sweet talk him.  
  
The play back began with muttered voices and a lot of patting like sounds. Jace realized the voices he heard were in the background and that Jalril was still drying off. Evidently both he and Admiral Gallaex were waiting till they were sure they wouldn't be interrupted again.  
  
"The information you provided us with was indeed very useful, Jalril," the admiral said.  
  
"I trust you were able to protect the Empire's new Star Destroyers from being captured."  
  
"KDY didn't even realize they had been infiltrated by your rebel allies."  
  
"Some allies. If they had been wise, they would have paid me what I deserve."  
  
"And treat you with the respect you deserve?"  
  
"Yes," Jalril agreed, not hearing the underlying sarcasm Gallaex's voice had been filled with.  
  
"I trust the reason you have set up this meeting is worth my time."  
  
"Oh, it will be worth it only if you choose to set up another meeting with me tomorrow. Did you bring your datapad as I asked?"  
  
There was the rustling of fabric on fabric as Gallaex reached into his satchel and brought out his datapad. The next sound was of Jalril reaching into a pocket and pulling out something. Jace heard a ripping sound and realized whatever had just been pulled out had been in a waterproof pouch.  
  
"This datacard should be enough for you to decide if we can do business tomorrow," Jalril told Gallaex.  
  
Gallaex plugged the datacard into his datapad. "The location of the main rebel base. Politicians who support the rebellion. Codes the rebels use. And a rebel decryption unit. Jalril, this is more than I could have wished for."  
  
"There's more, much more. What I have here on Tatooine is just a sampling of all I'm ready to give you. It will be you, and not someone like Grand Moff Tarkin or Lord Vader, who brings an end to the Rebellion. Emperor Palpatine will make you a Grand Admiral."  
  
"Wrong, he would put me in charge of the entire Imperial Navy. Be at the Mos Eisley Cantina tomorrow around noon with the goods. One of my subordinates will pick you up and bring you to my quarters."  
  
"Very good. Considering I still have much of what you'll need, I have nothing to fear about being in your private quarters."  
  
"Indeed so. I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow."  
  
Jace heard Gallaex get up and leave. "So somehow I have to find out where the two are going to be meeting."  
  
"You could go to every hotel in Mos Eisley and see where that Imp admiral is staying," Windy suggested.  
  
"That would take too long," Jace told her. "If I plant a tracer on Jalril, then I'll be able to learn the location of Gallaex's room. No that wont work, they'll no doubt scan him to see if he's being traced. But they wouldn't check the man the admiral sends to pick up Jalril."  
  
"Very intelligent. Of course that's why Alliance High Command gave you rogue operations status."  
  
"True, but I can't simply go in there, wherever there is, and kill Gallaex and Jalril. While the Imps could careless about Jalril's death, they would shut down the port just to find Gallaex's killer."  
  
"The admiral travels with a pet sand panther. He cages it when in transit. This recent holo shows him prepping his pet for a trip to Garos IV from Coruscant."  
  
Jace studied the holo carefully. From an Imperial navy news holo, the article was about Admiral Sol Gallaex's impending vacation on Garos IV. Jace could care less about the man's trip. It was the cage he was putting the big cat in that interested him. Big enough for the sand panther to walk around in, it's walls were solid instead of the traditional barred cage. Air vents along the top of the walls allowed air into the cage while keeping curious on lookers from looking in.  
  
"Good job Windy. That's how I'll get them out." Jace then noticed the time. "I better round up Krysta. We've got an old friend to see."


	4. Chapter 4

**Knight in Shining Armor  
Chapter 4  
**  
Jace tracked Jalril and his escort all the way to the Lucky Despot, a luxury hotel considered by some to be one of the finest in all of Mos Eisley. Of course if you asked Lady Valarian, the Whiphid owner of the Lucky Despot, it was the finest luxury hotel on all of Tatooine. Using a holoshroud of Lady Valarian, Jace was able to walk up to the computer behind the front desk and find out what room Gallaex was in.  
  
The rebel agent carefully made his way up to the empty suite next to Gallaex's. Climbing out onto the ledge outside the window, Jace slowly walked over to Gallaex's balcony. He then kicked open the curtained door and walked in on a surprised Gallaex and Jalril. Without even waiting for it to strike, Jace turned and shot Gallaex's sand panther with a tranquilizer before it could attack, knocking it out cold.  
  
"The Knight!" Gallaex exclaimed, horrified. Jalril was too scared to even speak.  
  
"Polto Jalril and Admiral Sol Gallaex, here sealing the deal on Jalril's most recent treasonous act," Jace growled, the armor's vocoder making his voice sound deeper, menacing, more authoritative. He then replayed their conversation from the night before for them. "Tatooine is not Bespin Jalril. Nor is providing the admiral here with the information you've supplied for him helping the Alliance. You both have no choice but to come with me."  
  
Gallaex finally managed to over come his fear and lunged for the door to the main room of his suite. Jace raised his arm, targeting the admiral, and shot him with a stun beam. He then pointed it at Jalril and did the same to him. Moving quickly, he tied the two up, gagged them, and threw them in the sand panther's carry cage. The evidence of Jalril's treason went in with them. He then took the sand panther out onto the suite's balcony, chaining it to the railing. Remodulating the armor's vocorder, he hit the balcony's comm unit.  
  
"Lieutenant Stries here admiral. What were those loud thumping noises?"  
  
"My panther was not pleased with the idea of being put back into his cage so soon," Jace said, sounding exactly like Gallaex. "Lieutenant, have his cage delivered to Docking Bay Forty."  
  
"Shouldn't I have Thanatos taken to your shuttle at Docking Bay Ninety?"  
  
"No, I will be returning to the fleet when we leave Tatooine. I have made arrangements with a Captain Douw to return Thanatos to my home on Coruscant."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"And lieutenant, I am entertaining our guest out on the balcony. I do not want to be disturbed. But I want you to take Thanatos to Captain Douw immediately."  
  
"As ordered admiral."  
  
Jace reached over and patted the sand panther. "Two hours from now you'll wake up. Be glad I left you in the shade."  
  
With that, Jace jumped over the balcony's railing. The armor's wings opened up, it's jet engines kicked in, stopping Jace's fall to the ground. Soon Jace was flying over Mos Eisley, rocketing towards Docking Bay Forty.

* * *

* * *

"Ah, Commander Douw, welcome to Tynna base," Mon Mothma said as Jace entered the base's headquarters building.  
  
"It's good to be here," Jace replied. "Tatooine was a bit too dry for my tastes. Or maybe it was the fact that it was crawling with stormtroopers when I left that brought on my current dislike of the planet."  
  
"Yes, the Alliance's High Command was shocked to learn that Polto Jalril had betrayed us as he has. So many of us have trusted him with our lives. But then, he has tended to be with us when we entrusted our lives to him. How would he explain why the Imperials set him free, or how he managed to so easily escape capture and the rest of us were still prisoners of the Empire?"  
  
"Indeed, that would be hard for him to do. But then, with the evidence I gathered against him, I doubt he could come up with an explanation for his actions now."  
  
"True. And Admiral Gallaex is very unpleased with his situation. But that is now none of your concern. I trust your meeting on Tatooine went as planned, aside from having to unexpectedly deal with Gallaex and Jalril."  
  
"Better actually. One of my contacts was able to get his hands on TX-56s for me. I'd been after the 55s, figuring they would be easier to get a hold of than the newer 56s."  
  
"And your other contact?"  
  
"She had the proton torpedoes we badly need. Their currently being unloaded."  
  
"A successful mission then. We will be needing as many proton torpedoes as we can possibly get our hands on."  
  
"Well, Sasla promised to contact me when she could get her hands on another shipment of torpedoes for us."  
  
"I'm glad to hear that. But now I have a mission for you." Mon Mothma said, hoping to get his full attention. Once she had it, she handed him a holo disk. "This is General Rasheil, one of our top Special Forces commanders. Three months ago he was captured while on a mission to Bestine. We know he was held on Bestine until last month. But where he is in the Empire, we do not know. Your mission will be to find him and bring him back if at all possible."  
  
"Consider it done," Jace said as he got up to leave.  
  
"Commander, do be careful. We can't afford to loose any of our people, but you are one of those who are virtually impossible to replace."  
  
"Don't worry. I'll be back before you can even start to worry."

* * *

"Bestine's a water planet," Krysta said as Jace punched the coordinates into the _Wind Star_'s navcomputer. "There's practically no landmasses on the planet. And the Empire controls it. Why would we even want to go there?"  
  
"Because we need to get all the information on the whereabouts of General Rasheil as we can. And since he was held on Bestine for two months, it stands to reason that there may still be some trace of where he may be now."  
  
"Yeah, but Bestine?"  
  
"Krysta, we'll be landing at Gasha settlement, one of Bestine's floating settlements. If you're so worried about the possibility of drowning or getting wet, I suggest you stay on board the 'Wind Star'."  
  
"OK, ok, I'll stop complaining. The real question is how do you plan on infiltrating the Imp's base?"  
  
"I figured I'd use that aqua-armor you've been developing."  
  
"The weapon's systems on that suit aren't ready yet. If you were to run into any Imp troops, there would be no way you could defend yourself."  
  
"I have the sonic rifle. And you'll have time while we're en route to see what you can do with the weapon's systems on it."  
  
"And if their still not ready by the time we arrive?"  
  
"I'll have to chance it. But I can't use the sky-armor like I did on Tatooine. If the Imperials see me coming on Bestine, they'll launch some TIEs. And there's no way I could deal with TIE fighters."  
  
"Yeah, no kidding."

* * *

* * *

"Freighter _Wind Star_, you are clear to land on platform five," the dull voice of the flight controller said.  
  
"Acknowledged tower," Jace replied.  
  
"Well isn't he full of life," Windy sarcastically said as Jace shut down the comm.  
  
"Stow it Windy," Jace ordered. "As long as we're on Bestine, you do not exist. We don't want the Imps discovering you."  
  
"Got it," Windy whispered. "From now until we lift off, consider me gone."  
  
Jace turned to Krysta. "How long do you think it will take for us to get unloaded, reloaded, and refueled."  
  
"Two hours tops."  
  
"Not much time for me to infiltrate the Imp base."  
  
"According to the survey I made as we were landing, you'll have maybe ten minutes once you're in the base to find what you need and get back in time for us to lift off."  
  
"Great, so really I'll have no time at all." Jace got out of his seat and headed for the door to the cockpit. "Well, suppose I better go have a chat with the customs official."  
  
"And there goes your ten minutes," Krysta muttered.  
  
"I heard that!"

* * *

"Well, your manifest fits what's here," the customs official said. "I'll get a load lifter out here to unload your cargo. The droid will then load you up."  
  
"Thanks, much appreciated," Jace replied. "How long till I can lift again?"  
  
"Well, it's gonna be four hours at the very least." Noticing Jace's questioning look, the man went on. "Normally it would take about two hours, but there's a monster storm coming up. After living here as long as I have, I know storms like this one tend to last at least four hours, if not more. All air travel is grounded."  
  
"Well, I could use a bit of rest," Jace said, delighted at his sudden luck.  
  
Waving to the customs official as he left, Jace made his way up the _Wind Star_'s ramp. He quickly headed towards the ship's lounge, smiling from ear to ear. Krysta stared at him, wondering if he had lost his mind.  
  
"Jace, are you all right?" she asked  
  
"A minimum of four hours!" he exclaimed as he grabbed her and twirled her round and round.  
  
"What?" Krysta managed to get away from him, now positive he had snapped.  
  
"There's a big storm coming. All air traffic is grounded for the next four hours."  
  
This time it was Krysta's turn to smile. "Well we best not waste it then. Let's get you armored up."

* * *

The aqua-armor was a deep bluish-green, designed to match the color of the ocean depths. It looked like something a samurai might wear rather than the armor found through out most of the galaxy. Like all the Knight armors, the helmet featured a pair of swept back horns and a face that appeared to be in a perpetual glare. Jace readily donned the armor as Krysta explained what it did.  
  
"The helmet has a gill feature that activates as soon as your waist deep, closing off the air vents," she told him. She then tapped the suits backpack. "High pressure water jets capable of propelling you at speeds of up to twenty knots. Don't worry about the pressure such speeds could cause you, the armor's suppression unit will absorb it instead of your body.  
  
"The right arm carry's a built in blaster and pneumatic micro harpoon launcher while the left has a stun gun and dart launcher. There are torpedo launchers on your shoulders, and the fold out wings at your hips posses aqua blasters. There's also fold out dive planes located on your shoulders and legs, and a pair of fold out rudders located above the water jets."  
  
"How are the weapons systems?" Jace asked.  
  
"Don't open the blaster or stun gun under water, that will short out the whole system. As for the rest of the weapon's I'm not sure. I didn't have the time I needed to test them like I'd prefer. You will have your choice of darts, as usual. So that should be helpful. Also, these aqua blaster are something I came up with and I'm not sure just how well they'll work. I'll probably replace them with a pair of sonic cannons. Oh, and you have your choice between explosive and grappling harpoons."  
  
"But aside from the weapons systems, the aqua-armor is ready to go."  
  
"Basically. There are still tests I'd like to have performed on it before you took it out. But it's not like you'll die from wearing it. And if the systems fail, there is an air tank with two hours of oxygen in it. Plus the armor's pack carries a pair of swim fins in case the water jets go down."  
  
"Then I'm ready to go," Jace said, grabbing the sonic rifle and exiting through the 'Wind Star's' secret entrance.  
  
Hugging closely to the ship's hull, Jace made his way to the edge of the landing pad. When there was no more hull to hug, he made a mad dash over the rest of the thirty meters to the edge of the landing pad, glad the storm had hit and was helping to cover his appearance. Reaching the edge, Jace jumped in feet first, remembering what Krysta had said about the aqua-armor's gill system activating once he was waist deep. Once fully submerged, he activated the map Krysta had downloaded into the armor's memory. It had been the same map she had made and had used previously to decide how much time he would have for this mission once they had set down.

* * *

After having dodged a couple of Imperial patrols, Jace arrived to find the base's security relatively lax. That was probably a good thing since any entanglements with Imperial troops would cost him valuable time. He quickly began his search for any room that might give him access to the base. Finding one, he mentally crossed his fingers, hoping it would not only give him the access he required but also contained the location of General Rasheil.  
  
"Ralltiir," he said, finding what he was after. "Looks like I'm going home."  
  
"You there, what do you think you're doing here?"  
  
Jace turned around to see a pair of stormtroopers standing behind him, a trio of additional troopers coming up behind them. They recognized the face of the armor as soon as they saw it and brought their weapons up. Unfortunately for them, Jace was a much faster draw. He leveled his blaster arm at the nearest trooper and let loose with an explosive harpoon. The nearest troopers were enveloped in the blast, already gone before either could react. Using the blast cloud to hid his movements, he dropped to the floor, blaster bolts screaming past his head. Readjusting his aim, he took out the nearest trooper with three quick blaster shots. Another explosive harpoon aimed at the hallway ceiling ensured that the last two stormtroopers would not be getting to him for several minutes.  
  
But it was too late to keep the base from being alerted to his presence. Grabbing the sonic rifle from his shoulder, Jace aimed it at the floor and fired a prolonged blast of sound. Set at it's full power, a sonic rifle had a blast comparable to that of a blaster. But the fact that it was high intensity sound made it more likely to blast through solid objects quicker than a blaster.  
  
Once he had a hole big enough to fit through, Jace looked down. The floor below had to be about twenty feet down, too far for him to jump and hope to survive uninjured. But it was also one of the base's submersible bays. Holding the rifle in his left hand, he took aim and fired a third explosive harpoon.  
  
Mag-con fields were standard usage not just on space going vessels capable of launching smaller ships and shuttles, but they were also used to keep sea water out of floating naval bases like the one on Bestine. These were unfortunately the only method on such naval bases to keep water out of the submersible bays. The explosion created by Jace's harpoon negated the effects mag-con field. Water rushed in to the submersible bay, enlarging the hole and shorting out unprotected electronic systems, like the mag-con controls. With two holes to flow through, the water quickly filled the submersible bay. Once it was half full, Jace jumped in.  
  
If his quick escape seemed too easy, then the trip back to the _Wind_ _Star_ made up for it. Imperial seatroopers had already been dispersed to deal with him. Dressed in the standard white armor and black body glove so common to all branches of the stormtrooper corps, seatroopers looked more like scout troopers than they did any other stormtroopers. They wore the binder style helmet of the scout troopers. But unlike the scout troopers helmet, their helmet did not feature the air filter mouth. Instead, an oxygen mask was fitted over the mouth and nose. On their backs they carried a special backpack unit made up of an air filter for breathing, a couple of oxygen tanks for under water breathing, and a propulsion unit capable of reaching speeds of eight knots. Their gauntlets featured a fin with a built in vibro-blade and webbing between the fingers. Their boots carried swinging fins that could be locked in an up position when out of the water or a down position for use in the water. Their weapon of choice was the sonic rifle, though some chose to use a spear gun.  
  
Jace activated his aqua blasters and took aim at one of the seatroopers. Getting a lock, he fired. But the only thing that happened was a sudden whine and the aqua blasters exploding just like a balloon being popping. He knew instantly that the blasters were of no use.  
  
Finding that his weapon's systems still worked, he fired a dart at the nearest seatrooper. A simple anti-personnel dart, the tip packed enough explosive to punch through any stormtrooper armor, allowing the poisoned shaft a chance at the flesh beneath.  
  
Once clear of seatroopers, Jace rocketed off toward to the _Wind Star_. Twice he was forced to use the suits torpedo launchers to deal with Imperial submersibles. But once back to the ship, he was able to sneak back aboard undetected. The whole mission had taken three and a half hours. An hour later, the 'Wind Star' was lifting off, bound for Fondor to deliver her cargo. From there, they would travel to Ralltiir.


	5. Chapter 5

**Knight in Shining Armor  
Chapter 5**  
  
"Jace, son! Come in, come in!" Wex Douw said as he opened the door to his home. "How long has it been?"  
  
"About thirteen years," Jace responded.  
  
"Thirteen years, my that's a long time to go without seeing one's family."  
  
"We'll when you're the captain of your own freighter, as well as running a freight transport business, you don't always have the time to visit with family."  
  
"And who is this lovely lady?"  
  
"Oh, this is Krysta Walka. She's the chief mechanic on board my ship. Krysta, this is my father, Wexly Douw."  
  
"Wex to my friends," the older man told her, ushering them both into the house. Once the door was closed, he turned around, this time a virtually different person. "OK, why are you really here? Don't tell me it's just to visit with your family. Because if that's the case, I'll see to it that Jan learns you aren't doing your duty."  
  
"General Dodonna was still on Yavin IV the last I knew. I can give you his comm relay if you'd like."  
  
"Funny Jace."  
  
"Actually, Krysta and I are here on an assignment from Mon Mothma."  
  
"Ah, then I take it this assignment is to get money for the rebellion."  
  
"They don't send the Knight on a money gathering mission."  
  
Wex's jaw dropped nearly to the floor. Naturally he'd heard about the Knight. Who hadn't? But what he'd heard were horror stories about a rebel super soldier who brutally murdered innocent civilians. Knowing that the Empire would do anything to make the rebel's seem evil, he had dismissed all he'd heard about this Knight. The Knight was a myth concocted by Imperial propagandists as far as he was concerned. But now he wasn't so sure.  
  
"You're... you're the Knight?"  
  
"Don't believe any of that bantha fodder the Imps say about me. They just need to make me into a monster whom their protecting the populace from."  
  
"Thank the Force for that. So I presume this fantastic armor they repute you to use is also fake?"  
  
"Actually, I make all of Jace's Knight armor," Krysta said, speaking for the first time.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Well, she has ever since she turned sixteen," Jace explained. "She's actually a mechanical and engineering genius. And that also pertains to weapons making as well.  
  
"Before Krysta started making my armor, I used augmented stormtrooper armor, or any other armor I could get and augment. I even managed to get a hold of armor from one of the Emperor's Royal Guard.  
  
"Back then, Imperial troops learned to fear me. But now, now it's easier to recognize me at first sight, so they really fear me. Plus, the new Knight armors are far more powerful than the old ones ever were."  
  
"I see. So, seeing as how you said this young lady has been making your armor since she was sixteen, how long have the two of you known each other."  
  
"Ever since I was six," Krysta answered. "I was being sold into slavery to some Hutt by an Imperial Moff. Jace intercepted the slave ship before it could leave Roon. When he learned that the slavers had killed my family, he took me in and raised me."  
  
"As you're daughter, Jace?"  
  
"Well, we've never been that close. Plus I had missions to take care of, so I wasn't always around to take care of Krysta. It was the Knight who had rescued her from the slavers. He'd then dumped her on my ship. She never knew until she was fifteen that the Knight and I were one in the same. At that time, she walked in on me taking of my augmented stromtrooper Knight armor, the same I'd worn the day I rescued her. After hearing all those stories about the Knight serving the rebellion, and remembering about my kindness, both in rescuing and taking care of her, she asked for the truth. Once she had it, she joined the Alliance as well."  
  
"So then the two of you are friends basically?"  
  
"Yep," Krysta replied. "But there is one thing I want to know about you, if I may ask?"  
  
"Go ahead. I have nothing to hide."  
  
"How do you know General Dodonna? And are you a part of the Alliance?"  
  
"Dad served as the general's executive officer aboard the Victory-class Star Destroyer _Ray of Light_ during the Clone Wars," Jace told her.  
  
"And the second part is yes and no. Everyone except for Jace in our family is the same. We serve the Alliance, but not out right. We're more like undercover agents, working here on Ralltiir to get the money and any information we can that the Alliance may need."  
  
"Oh, I see."  
  
"Dad, is there any way I can get the information I need without having to break into an Imp records office?"  
  
"Please Jace, don't waste my time with stupid questions. This is the Douw family after all. Of course there's a way. Your sister Kitha or your brother Keil should be able to get you what you need. I doubt Tal and Sera could do it."  
  
"Uh, I hate to sound like a complete idiot, but who are Kitha, Keil, Tal, and Sera?" Krysta asked.  
  
"Jace's brothers and sisters," Wex told her. "The twin's Kitha and Keil are a couple of years older than Jace. His younger brother Tal is a couple years younger than him, and Sera, the baby of the family, was born when Jace was eight."  
  
"Big family. I only had an older sister."  
  
"Indeed, it is a large family compared with some," Wex replied. "However, in these trying times, that makes us more capable of spying on the Emperor and his minions."

* * *

"I'm sorry Jace," Kitha Douw said, "but I'm not going to be around any of the bank's computers for a while. In fact, I'm leaving for Coruscant tomorrow, so I'll be packing tonight."  
  
Wex had invited his eldest children to the house for lunch. Both had been surprised to see their younger brother there. Yet they didn't argue when they discovered what he wanted from them. In fact, they had both started thinking about ways to help him.  
  
"Don't worry little brother, I'll get you what you need," Keil said. "The Imps just opened a new bank a little over a month ago near the Gralia spaceport. Since I'm one of those who are supposed to monitor all banking activity planet wide at the end of each month, I seriously doubt this new bank is just that."  
  
"And why's that?" Wex asked.  
  
"Well, they've had several real big deposits, but no one has ever made a withdrawal. Except one time. Not only that, but all the depositors come from high security Imperial facilities."  
  
"You said there was only one time when a withdrawal was made," Jace said. "Who made it?"  
  
"If memory serves, it was a Moff Sastom. Why?"  
  
"Sastom is the current commandant of the Imperial prison on Kessel. He is also the man who travels to other Imp prisons to pick up level one prisoners. These prisoners are considered extreme risk of escape as well as extremely dangerous. In other words, level one prisoners are high ranking political dissidents, Imperial military or political leaders who may either speak out against or oppose Emperor Palpatine, or high ranking members of the Alliance. Sastom never conducts his financial business face to face with any banker not located on Coruscant. And then they have to be at least an assistant manager with the Imperial Bank of Coruscant."  
  
"So that means that this new bank is all a facade. The First National Imperial Bank of Ralltiir is really a prison?"  
  
"That would be my guess."  
  
"And the Imps don't care that a person like me looks over their account files for a fake bank."  
  
"Son, because you look over their accounts and submit your findings, you unwittingly help to make it a real bank," Wex told him.  
  
"OK, that makes sense," Keil replied. "Well, I guess Lara and I will be coming to dinner tonight. And I'll have the info you need to complete your mission."

* * *

The hour was late, too late for any decent being to still be awake. Dinner had come and gone hours before, leaving Jace with memories of his brother and sister-in-law and their two kids. Lara had been in his class during school, but she'd always had a thing for Keil. And he had felt the same about her. Jace was pleased to see they were still very much in love.  
  
As he had promised, Keil had brought over everything that he could on the First National Imperial Bank of Ralltiir. In fact, Keil had managed to successfully slice into the FNIBR's main computer and retrieved more than Jace could have hoped for. Not only did he know that General Rasheil was still on Ralltiir, he also knew that Moff Sastom would be picking him up at the end of the week. He also had a full layout of the FNIBR prison facility, how many guards were on duty at any given time, when they changed the guards, and where the prison armory was. Now all he needed was to formulate a plan.  
  
"Still up?" Krysta asked as she entered his room.  
  
"I've got to strike tomorrow night Krysta," Jace said, looking up. He had never seen what she wore when she went to sleep at night. Now he had to admit that the short sleep shirt suited her. "Can't sleep?"  
  
"No," she replied as she came closer and lightly kissed his cheek.  
  
"What was that for?"  
  
"Because."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Seeing your brother and his family tonight made me realize something."  
  
"And that would be?"  
  
Krysta closed his door and pulled off her sleep shirt. "That sometimes a person needs to take matters into her own hands."

* * *

Krysta walked into the Douw residence's common room the next morning to find Wex sitting in front of the holoscreen watching something. The whistling and sudden up roar coming from the holoscreen told her exactly what he was watching. Taking a seat beside him, she joined him in watching the game.  
  
"Whose playing?" she asked  
  
"The Imperial Center Imperials versus the Bespin Velkers," Wex replied, not fully paying attention to her.  
  
"The Imperials? Why do they even bother playing the Velkers. This season the Velkers are twenty-five and five while the Imperials are one and twenty-nine."  
  
"You follow whistleball?" Wex turned to look at her, shocked by what he'd just heard. Very few women her age seemed interested in sports such as whistleball. At least he only knew of a very few who were.  
  
"Well, when you're around Jace long enough, you develop a taste or hatred for certain things. Whistleball was exceedingly easy to get to like. So fast paced and exciting."  
  
"Indeed it is. Whose your favorite team?"  
  
"The Tatooine Kyrats."  
  
"Oh, the new team. I'm impressed with how well they've done for their first year. They could possibly get into the championship."  
  
"Yeah. Jace is hoping the Wildcats will go all the way."  
  
"Oh no, he doesn't know yet."  
  
"Know what?"  
  
"The Wildcats were disbanded a few days by an Imperial decree."  
  
"Disbanded? Why?"  
  
"Lord Tion was killed, Ralltiir was fully subjugated, and Lord Vader claimed some important Imperial plans had been stolen and ended up here on Ralltiir, where they made their way to a diplomatic ship connected with the Alliance. We're supposed to be under a full blockade, but much of the blockade was eased. However, all our intergalactic sports teams are no more. That includes the Wildcats. Of course, the Wildcats being disbanded seems more like revenge since the Imperials were Lord Tion's favorite team and they were always beaten by our Wildcats."  
  
"Wow, talk about poor sports."  
  
"I'm just glad Jace joined the Alliance rather than the Wildcats."  
  
"Jace played whistleball?" Krysta asked, amazed by what she was learning.  
  
"Ralltiir is one of the rare planets where a being still in school may play in a planetary league. Whistleball players still in school must be within three years of graduating and they must be qualified to play. Jace had been playing in the various youth leagues since he was six. At fifteen, he was three years from graduating and the youngest player ever on Ralltiir. Always his team's center, he was fast and an accurate shot. For three years he attended school while playing for the Screamers nights and weekends. The leagues most valuable player with the most points scored in a season. Jace was known as being able to pass to a teammate and rarely be intercepted.  
  
"So when he was eighteen, he had just graduated and the Wildcats were being put together. Their manager offered him a position on the team as their first string center and team captain. Jace would have taken them up on it too, if it weren't for what happened to another intergalactic whistleball team. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but Jace swore the Empire would pay dearly for how they treated their citizens."  
  
"Sounds like Jace." 


	6. Chapter 6

_Well, I know it's been a few days since I last updated this story, been busy with other things and haven't felt like getting out the CD-ROM disk the chapters are on. Just an idea how old this story is, the original 11 chapters were put on CD-ROM Sept. 29, 2002. As I said earlier, I originally posted this story on before any problems with that site occured. If you originally read the story there, then you'll be noticing some differences here. Biggest differences so far will be this chapter and the next. For those who did not read it there, don't worry about what the differences are to the original chapters. Though I do plan to add a new chapter or so as I never cared for the ending being so quickly before. Always felt rushed, and I think it still feels that way even now._

_To those who have read this story so far, thanks for your comments. It's good to know folks are actually reading about Jace and Krysta. Oh and I probably mention Windy least she gets upset and decides to land on my house. I've been keeping in mind some of what you have said and will try to work some of it into the story, particualary the afore mentoined planned new chapters. Though I think Jace may not be what people expect from the early chapters._

_Here's an intresting bit of trivia for you, Krysta was originally Jace's age, though that died early on when I decided to make her more like a little sister to Jace. In fact as I was writing the first draft of the fifth chapter Jace told his father that she had been like a daughter when she was younger but then she became more like a little sister as she got older. At that time the age difference between Jace and Krysta was much greater. But as I was writing the part where Jace was in his room after dinner, the romance between Jace and Krysta just kinda created itself before I knew what I was doing. So I had to go back and rewrite things to bring them closer to the same age and had Jace say that they'd never been close enough to be like father and daughter. Though there's still a bit of a difference in their ages._

_Thank you and keep those reviews coming. And now, on with the story._

* * *

****

**Knight in Shining Armor  
Chapter 6  
**  
Breaking into the prison had been the easy part. He had expected it to be. In his opinion it was always easy to break into an Imperial prison. It was the breaking out part that was difficult. After all prisons were supposed to be escape proof. But then, it was hard to keep someone as heavily armed as he was from breaking out if they broke in to begin with.  
  
Arriving at the Rasheil's cell, he quickly opened it and stepped inside. "General Rasheil I'm here to....."  
  
"Rescue me," the Twi'lek general interrupted as he got to his feet. "What shall I call you? Should it be your name, which you will have to tell me by the way, or shall it be by your title."  
  
"My title, General," Jace answered. "We can't let the Imps figure out who I really am."  
  
"Indeed not," Rasheil agreed, moving past Jace and into the corridor beyond. "The Alliance can't afford to loose an operative such as the Knight."  
  
"We can't afford to loose an officer such as you either," Jace pointed out. "Come on, we've got to get to the prison armory. Without getting you armed, I doubt we're gonna get out of here at all.

* * *

"Emperor's black bones!" Jace exclaimed. "Is this a prison or a weapons storage facility?"  
  
"Prison armories are not normally stocked the same as a military base's armory," Rasheil said. "But this is not the same as any armory I've ever seen. Look at this, weapons not put away properly."  
  
"The sheer volume of weapons in the middle of the armory is the same as what it would take to fill a cell like the one you were in. My sources said they just got a new prisoner in yesterday."  
  
"Yes, I see." Rasheil opened one of the nearest weapons crates and started rummaging through it. "When I arrived, they worked me over for two hours before putting me in my cell. It should have only taken them a few minutes to get me taken care of."  
  
"Except they were probably emptying your cell of weapons."  
  
"Exactly. Knight, take a look at this."  
  
Jace walked over and looked in. The sight of what was inside made him whistle. "Imperial DR-11 disruptor rifles."  
  
Rasheil waved to all the other crates in the room. "Notice the DR labeling on all the crates. The same as is on this one. What do you want to bet their all filled with disruptors."  
  
"I count at least fifty crates, but there are no doubt more than that."  
  
"That's at least a thousand disruptors in this building. No doubt there are many more. If these get into regular circulation, that will be it for the Alliance. They'll be able to vaporize us before we can even hurt them."  
  
"Not if I can help it," Jace said as he opened another crate. "Thermal detonators."  
  
"With other prisoners here, we can't destroy the prison."  
  
"You're right," Jace sighed. "But can't we just destroy the armory? Please?"  
  
"My, but you are determined to deal with these things. Do you have some other way?"  
  
Smiling, Jace pointed to another crate. "Mark VII high yield fragmentation grenades. Not nearly as powerful as the thermal detonators, but at least they'll be less likely to destroy the prison. Half the crate should do. At least that will wipe out all the disruptors in here. The thermal detonators will have to be taken with us to prevent the explosion from setting them off. Same thing for the other half of the Mark VIIs."  
  
The general grabbed an equipment pack tossed it to Jace, who started loading it with thermal detonators and grenades. "The Mark VIIs can be set for three minutes," Rasheil pointed out, "but that's not long enough for us to be able to get out before those things go off."  
  
Jace slid a hand by his hip and pulled out an oblong object about the size of his fist. "I know. But they'll sure do some damage when this bomb goes off."  
  
The shrieking of the prison alarm announced they'd been discovered. Rasheil grabbed a repeating blaster and it's backpack-style generator before exiting the room. "Looks like they've discovered I'm no longer in my cell."  
  
"So you mean their not as stupid as they look?" Jace jokingly asked as he followed the general. As he left the armory, he came face to face with a stormtrooper sergeant. Behind him, a squad of stormtroopers held Rasheil at gun point.  
  
"Hands up!" the sergeant ordered.  
  
Jace followed orders, raising his hands slowly, displaying the armed thermal detonators in his hands. "Their set to go off if I let go. And I will let them go if you don't let the general and myself go."  
  
"You're bluffing," the sergeant said.  
  
"Indeed he is," Rasheil said, putting the barrel of his rifle to the man's head. "But your men didn't know that."  
  
The stormtrooper slowly turned around to find that he was now indeed out numbered. In that moment, Jace let loose with a roundhouse kick to the man's head, knocking him out cold. He then deactivated the thermal detonators and gently placed them into the equipment pack.  
  
"Let's get going," Jace said.

* * *

* * *

General Artrey Aslar was a tall man, too tall to have been a stormtrooper. Not that he was upset by that fact. No stormtrooper commanded the kind of fear Darth Vader did. It was Vader who Aslar would rather be like. Thus he had completely shaved his head and went around in a black uniform with a flowing black cape. A tattoo of the Dark Lord's helmet had been etched on his bare skull, so that he actually appeared to be wearing the same helmet as Vader. His shoulders, chest, and upper back were encased in black plastoid armor. Black gloves, hiding a selection of poison injectors, covered his hands. At his hip he wore a vibroblade disguised as a lightsaber. Many with no clue what the Dark Lord actually looked like found it hard to believe that Aslar was not Darth Vader.  
  
But not Emperor Palpatine. He knew the truth and had been the one to approve of Aslar's self designed uniform. He had also called Aslar to meet with him.  
  
"What is thy bidding, my master?" Aslar asked, his nasally voice sounding remarkably like Vader's.  
  
"Rise General Aslar," Palpatine croaked. "You know of the rebel known as the Knight?"  
  
"Yes, my master."  
  
"Yesterday, the Knight freed General Rasheil of the rebellion from the Imperial prison on Ralltiir. According to the report, the two managed to escape capture in a stolen Crescent-class transport. But not before planting a bomb that destroyed the prison's armory. That armory was being used to stock pile DR-11 disruptor rifles. Those rifles were to be used to give us the edge over those pitiful rebels once and for all .  
  
"This Knight has been a thorn in the side of the Empire for far too long. I want you to destroy him."  
  
"As you wish, my master."

* * *

"General Aslar, the spaceport manifests you requested."  
  
"Ah, thank you Captain Cazar," Aslar said in that Vader like voice of his. He got up and took the datacards from the Captain.  
  
"Sir, permission to ask a question of you."  
  
"Make it quick."  
  
"Why did you ask for all these manifests?"  
  
"The Knight uses a ship to get from planet to planet," Aslar explained, his tone suggesting this was too obvious. "He can not ship his armor from planet to planet for fear of it being discovered. Thusly, he can not use a space liner as his means of transportation. That means that he has his own ship.  
  
"His ship can not be just any ship. It must be a freighter. A space yacht would draw too much attention. It would also make it more difficult for whoever the Knight really is to cover his true purpose in being on the planet. Planets and moons such as Tatooine, Atzerri, and Nar Shaddaa are places where a space yacht would look suspicious. Suspicion is not something this man wants.  
  
"Which is why he always lands at a spaceport. Landing outside of one could also draw attention to him. And it would give us an idea what kind of a ship to look for. But if he posses as an honest business man, he can travel anywhere in the galaxy and never be discovered. And honest business men always use the spaceports located on whatever planet they visit."  
  
"Most planets have multiply spaceports. The Knight could land anywhere on a planet, making it hard for him to be detected, sir."  
  
"Why do you think I requested the spaceport manifests for every spaceport on that list?"  
  
"Oh, I didn't think about that. I guess that's why you requested the manifests to be for the weeks prior to and just after his strikes."  
  
"Very good, Captain."  
  
"I'll pass this knowledge on to Admiral Mryll. I'm sure he'll want to know about how you plan to deal with the Knight." "I think not," Aslar said. He grabbed his vibroblade-lightsaber and hit the switch. A blade the length of a dagger sprang into view and began humming. The sonic vibrations caused by the weapon's micro-generator caused the blade to become a blur of motion. Before the captain could move, Arsal was on him. He swung the vibroblade-lightsaber at the man's neck, easily decapitating him. "The Emperor ordered me to kill the Knight. He did not say I had to share my findings with anyone. I am not going share this kill with a glory hog such as Mryll."  
  
Just then the door opened and a pair of stormtroopers entered. "General, is there anything wrong? We heard what sounded like a fight."  
  
"Captain Cazar needed to be reminded who he answered to," Aslar told them, returning the vibroblade-lightsaber to his hip. "Escort him out."  
  
"Yes sir," the first stormtrooper replied, a note of fear in his voice as he looked from Cazar's remains to the blood dripping from the weapon at Aslar's hip.

* * *

An hour later Aslar's datapad had provided him with the two ships that had been on each and every planet and moon at the time the Knight had made his attacks. Alsar narrowed the list down to one after a search of both ships in the Imperial database listed the _Nova Flare_ as being scrapped shortly after the Battle of Nar Shaddaa. Though the majority of those opposing the Imperial forces in that battle had been smugglers, pirates, and mercenaries, Aslar knew that there had been a few honest ship captains in that rabble. The captain of the _Nova Flare_ appeared to be one of those. After the battle, he had gone on to purchase the HT-2200 freighter listed as the _Wind Star_.  
  
"Lieutenant Zalril, find out where Jace Douw, captain of the freighter _Wind Star_, is to go on his next run," he said as he activated his office's comm. "His last known location was the planet Ralltiir."  
  
"At once General Aslar."  
  
"Well Captain Douw, looks like your days as the Knight are numbered."


	7. Chapter 7

**Knight in Shining Armor  
Chapter 7  
**  
"Windy, the acceleration compensator is loose again. Did that Dug fiddle with it?"  
  
"Afraid so, sugar," Windy replied in a rather annoyed tone. "That damn creature came close to my cognitive matrix too. As well as the armor compartment. I think he's looking for something and doesn't mind trashing me in order to find it."  
  
"I mind damn it," Krysta snarled. "I may love working on you, but I sure as hell don't like having to repair you after someone else fiddles with, or sabotages, you."  
  
"If you want, I can zap him the next time he comes on board. He's been tampering enough that he may figure he cross wired something and I'm gonna blow up or something."  
  
"Do it, I've got armor I have to work on."  
  
"I'm sure Jace will be pleased with this armor you're working on."  
  
"Well, that remains to be seen. This one is a bit of a departure from the norm for my designs."  
  
"Really? Why change a winning formula, sweetheart?"  
  
"Times are changing, Windy," Krysta said, annoyed with the droid for calling her sweetheart. "The Empire is always looking to improve their war machine. The Death Star was one of those improvements, perhaps the ultimate improvement at that. Jace learned from General Dodonna this morning that some unknown named Luke Skywalker destroyed the Death Star months ago. And in a holo meeting with Mon Mothma, he discovered that the High Command has asked Kyle Katarn to deal with some kind of super stormtrooper the Empire is calling the Dark Trooper. Plus their always looking to make stormtroopers invincible. Jace had a run in with one of those damn spacetroopers and barely survived. Which, of course, is more than one can say for the spacetrooper."  
  
"Ah yes, such wonderful memories," Windy interrupted. "Jace taking a dip in the bacta tank and you flying. Thought we were going to die. At least the big guy barely wearing a stitch of clothing in the tank more than made up for it. Talk about a fabulous body."  
  
Krysta ignored her. "The Knight has to change to be able to face these new times. Thusly, the Knight armors must reflect the change. If we're not a step ahead of the Empire, it will be like it was before I started making Jace's armors. Back then Jace had to rely as much on luck and deception as he did his own skills. Today, it's his skills that make the difference."  
  
"Jace would still say luck is needed," Windy reminded her.  
  
"True, but deception is no longer as big a part as it was before. Now he no longer has to look like a stormtrooper or bounty hunter. Plus with the modern Knight armors, there is a certain amount of fear which makes one hesitate. That helps too."  
  
"Of course it does," Windy agreed. "Jace does have a way of installing fear in those who choose to terrify others."  
  
"Indeed he does."

* * *

* * *

"This Jace Douw is a fairly straight forward person," the young lieutenant said. "He grew up on the planet Ralltiir as a member of a fairly affluent middle-class family in the City of Raxis. The third born to Wexly Douw and Tyra Ietam Douw. Unlike most children in the galaxy his age, he attended an advanced education school. The same holds true for his older brother and sister. Because of this schooling, Captain Douw started attending the University of Ralltiir at age fourteen. During the last three years of his education, he played center for the local whistleball team Raxis Screamers. After graduation, he was offered a position on the newly forming Ralltiir Wildcats. He turned them down and became a freighter captain instead. Douw's freighter service offers fairly inexpensive and prompt delivery. Thusly he rarely travels without any cargo aboard.  
  
"Fourteen years ago the Knight placed a six year old girl in Douw's care. Moff Erse had been about to sell the girl into slavery to one of the Hutts. The Knight intercepted the slave shipment on the planet Roon, killing Moff Erse and his troops. He then freed all the other slaves, but this little girl had no where to go. Apparently hearing of how kind this Captain Douw is, he broke into Douw's ship, leaving the girl behind."  
  
"And how do we know this?" Aslar asked, tapping his fingers against his desk.  
  
"The spaceports customs official was with Captain Douw when he returned to his ship. He filed all the girl told him."  
  
"And did the customs official file this girl's name?"  
  
"Her name is Krysta Walka."  
  
Aslar suddenly stiffened at the mention of the name. If the lieutenant noticed, he didn't mention it. "Krysta Walka? Are you sure?"  
  
"Yes sir. Recent reports from Mos Eisley indicate that she is still traveling with Douw. Begging your pardon sir, but why is this Walka so important?"  
  
"Krysta Walka is the youngest child of the now deceased Nual Walka," Aslar explained. "Nual was a technological mastermind. He designed an improved turbolaser that could be fired continuously for five minutes without having to cool between shots. This was among other things he designed. He also destroyed the prototype and blue prints to all the weapons he designed to keep them out of the Empire's hand.  
  
"Imperial Intelligence learned that Nual was planning on joining the rebels and informed the Emperor of this. Expecting that his children had inherited his technological genius, and that his wife might be the only other person who knew all of his designs, the Emperor ordered the entire family to be killed. It was Moff Erse who was to carry the sentence out.  
  
"Erse reported that he had killed the Walkas. In fact, I saw their bodies along with Lord Vader. The youngest, who Lord Vader and I both believed to be Krysta Walka, had her face burned beyond recognition thanks to blaster shots to the head. Apparently Erse had substituted some other girl for Miss Walka.  
  
"No doubt he tested the girl to see if she had inherited any of her father's technological genius. And no doubt he would have had the Hutts take good care of her so that he could have her design the weapons he would have used to wrest control of the Empire from the Emperor. Both the Emperor and Lord Vader knew Erse had his sights set on the throne. But apparently they did not know about his ought right defiance of orders. Or his little slave ring which Imperial Intelligence learned about shortly after his death. But then maybe they did know. Neither seemed to care when it was reported he was killed by the Knight."  
  
"Oh, I see," the lieutenant said.  
  
"Find out where Captain Douw and Ms. Walka are now," Aslar ordered.  
  
"They are currently on Malastere," the lieutenant replied. At the questioning look from Aslar, he explained. "I expected you were going to order me to do just that so I took the initiative. I also hired a Dug to hide a tracking device on Douw's freighter."  
  
"What is your name lieutenant?"  
  
"Aniet Niet sir."  
  
"Well Lt. Niet, I believe I could use a man of your caliber to assist me with my mission."  
  
"Thank you sir, I'm honored."  
  
"As you should be," Aslar told him. "Have the 'Corsuca Gem' prepared for departure to the Malastere system immediately."

* * *

* * *

"Ok Mr. Neral, I'll take you and that pod racer of yours to Ord Mantel," Jace said, looking the Buthidae in one of his twelve eyes.  
  
"Thank you Captain Douw," Neral replied. Like the rest of his race, his speech pattern held the T sound for close to a quarter second, giving it an airy, whistling quality. The same was true of the TH sound, though with out the whistling quality. Buthidaes also tended to hiss their S and SH sounds. "I also have a pit crew which I will need to travel with me." "How big is your pit crew?"  
  
"Two Duros and eight pit droids. And of course, there's their tools as well."  
  
"Of course," Jace agreed. "I can offer you and the Duros a set of individual quarters on board the 'Wind Star'. They aren't fancy, but their better than nothing."  
  
"Our Z-10 Seeker is not fancy," Neral said. "In fact, we had to modify the cargo bay to make space for our cramped quarters. So we are not looking for fancy."  
  
"Speaking of that Z-10 of yours, why not use it instead of hiring me?"  
  
"Simple," Neral began, a certain sadness in his voice, "the hyperdrive broke down after we came out of hyperspace. It also damaged the ship's sub-light drive. My pit crew got the drive to fifteen percent operational status. But that is not enough for the _Neral's Caravan _to be able to escape planetary atmosphere. I have a race scheldulded for next week. The repairs will take too long for me to make the race if I do not hire out someone such as yourself."  
  
"Well, I'll get you to Ord Mantell in time, don't worry."  
  
"Thank you Captain Douw. Now, if we may deal with the cost of this trip."  
  
Jace looked up to see Krysta standing at the top of the ramp. He suspected she'd already heard the two making their deal. Yet the look she was giving him made him wonder what was wrong. Hopefully not his dealing with the Buthidae. Krysta quietly waved to him, gesturing for him to join her at the top of the ramp.  
  
"If you'll excuse me Mr. Neral, I have something I need to take care of."  
  
"Yes, of course.  
  
Jace quickly moved to the top of the ramp. "What's wrong?"  
  
"I'm not sure," Krysta confessed. "We had a Dug apparently trying to sabotage Windy earlier. He kept coming and going like he was looking for something, fiddling with the electronics and engines. Then he suddenly stopped showing. And just now when I had Windy run a systems check, she came up with some strange readings."  
  
"You do a visual check on the systems?"  
  
"I did a rush on it, but I didn't notice anything that would cause those kind of readings. Their almost like some piece of equipment not related to any of Windy's systems."  
  
"We're near one of the planets many pod racing tracks. And Windy does have the ability to detect potential threats due to their electronics signals. Maybe she had a slight glitch during the systems check and detected one of the pod racers electronics as well."  
  
"Makes sense, I guess."  
  
Jace leaned over and gave her a kiss before turning around to go conclude his deal with Neral. "Well, let's not worry about it just now. I've got business to conclude with Neral. And as soon as we get him, his pit crew, their equipment, and his pod on board, it's off to Ord Mantell."  
  
"Ok, I'll be sure to have Windy ready to go." 


End file.
